By introducing Reflex WMS alongside automated warehouse systems, we’ve achieved productivity and service standard gains across all our processes—from incoming deliveries and storage, to order picking, shipping and returns.
La Redoute has opted to build a brand-new, fully mechanized logistics warehouse to remain at the forefront of e-commerce standards—picking orders in two hours, managing a vast catalog of items, maintaining stock accuracy, and delivering within 24 hours. The retailer has also chosen Reflex WMS to manage all its logistics processes and flows.
Context and objectives
La Redoute is one of France’s top ten e-retailers, with more than 10 million active customers in 26 countries, almost 9 million unique monthly visitors on average, and 300,000 items across fashion, textiles, furniture and home furnishings. The firm ships orders to France and abroad from a single site in north-eastern France, with the exception of bulky items, which are managed by Log’s under an outsourcing arrangement.
In 2013, La Redoute invested €50 million in a brand-new, ultra-modern warehouse—complete with automated shuttles and storage equipment, as well as a bag sorting machine—as it sought to slash order-picking and return processing lead times and handle even more items in a space four times smaller. The firm decided to replace its proprietary WMS with a new, commercial solution to manage its new warehouse, as well as the Log’s warehouse.
The solution
After putting the contract out to tender, La Redoute opted for Reflex WMS on the strength of its functional coverage (neither too extensive nor too narrow), its interoperability with all commercial Warehouse Control Systems (WCS) and Order Management Systems (OMS), and the fact that it came in cheaper than other solutions. The firm launched the construction, mechanization and IT solution work simultaneously, aiming to bring the new warehouse online by end-2016. Hardis Group advised on integrating Reflex WMS with the Dematic WCS to achieve the agreed target processes, as well as with La Redoute’s OMS and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution, which it uses to handle returns and refunds. During busy periods, Reflex now manages more than 3,500 orders—amounting to 12,000-13,000 picking operations—every hour, and a million messages pass between the systems each day.
- Twice as many items processed simultaneously
- Orders picked in two hours (as opposed to two days in the past)
- Next-day delivery on all orders placed before 8 pm
- Faster processing of returns and refunds
- Easier work and less distance to travel for operators